Good Habits to Follow!

The web site www.onlinedegrees.net posts a list of "101 Habits of Highly Effective Writers." As I read through the list, I'm relieved that I do practice most of these habits (does 51% equal most?) There is much room for improvement!

How about you? How many of these habits do you practice? Any others you'd like to add to this list?

For now, I'll stick with advice #8 and prioritize. Better shut down my internet and get back to my novel!

We Saw It!

My article, "We Saw It!" is up on Viatouch. I'd love it if you checked it out!

This event happened last summer, and it was SO fun. The article mentions my sons, Devin, Blake and Garrett, who had a blast viewing the ISS from our hometown.

Viatouch is a great web site for research, learning, and fun. I've found it's a great tool for teachers, parents, and kids.

Enjoy!

Bullies

For generations, bullies have caused much pain and frustration. As children, we either experienced them ourselves, or watched helplessly while they tormented someone else.

I wrote “The Bystander” after a tragic event occurred in my small town. Although the story stemmed from that situation, this story for teens is fiction.

Today’s children sometimes face snarky girls, cowardly boys, and invisible cyber-bullies. I’d venture a guess that most of the victims feel alone and helpless.

But they’re not. Some great resources I’ve found are Operation Respect, Bullying. org, and Cyberbullyhelp.com.

Writer by day...but at night???

Check out this fun post by my writer friend, Lisa Green. She's a novel-writing machine, and my fingers are crossed that her books will make it to the big leagues.

Slogging through the draft

I'm slogging through a second draft of my novel, "Special Forces." Too many flashbacks, not enough conflict, possibly too many threads. What to do? I just read a great post by Holly Lisle on "One Pass Revision." I think I'll give her technique a try. I hope my sad old printer can keep up!

Great Advice

I had already published my post for the day, but I read a blog post that is so helpful, I had to share. Gayle Gaymer Martin posted Creativity for Writers. Take a moment to check it out!

A shout out to my friend, Lisa Green, for her excellent tips on social media. Where would I be without you?

The long race vs. the short race

"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another." - Walter Elliot

Do you ever wonder why it takes so long to achieve your dreams? We plod along, thinking we're making no progress at all.

I think that way too, sometimes. What I need to remind myself is that each little success is it's own short race. To put it in writer's terms, each success is it's own story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Setbacks are simply speed bumps along the way, or "conflict." Setbacks create that much more excitement when those small victories arrive.

Sometimes I need to knock myself with a sledgehammer to remind myself that each success is exactly that: success. Who cares if it's small?

We may arrive at the finish line huffing and wheezing. The race was long and riddled with potholes.

But, we arrived.

If a tree falls in the forest...

Remember that question? It goes something like "If a tree falls in the forest with no witnesses, does it make a sound?"

I'm wondering if I blog, but I can't figure out how to allow people to follow and comment, is it really a blog? Who knows!

Never mind the bald spot on my head from pulling my hair out. I'll continue to scour the Wordpress help pages to see if I can figure this out. In the meantime, today I want to mention that I'm thankful for perseverance!

New home already!

After some trial and error, I've found a home on blogspot. Whew! Give me a little computer knowledge and lookout...trouble awaits! Below, I'll copy my previous posts from a different blog world.